Mixed reactions at CSE; investors in profit-taking stance

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The CSE on the previous day broke through the benchmark All Share Price Index’s 9,500-point psychological barrier as investors began a fresh week with improved sentiment though the turnover was relatively low. But yesterday the market showed mixed reactions with investors getting into a profit taking stance, stock market analysts said.

The ASPI gained by over 100 points or 1 per cent to close the day at 9,542 on Monday, establishing a new high for the CSE. However, the S&P SL20 index struggled and closed almost flat. Yesterday both indices indicated mixed reactions. The All-Share Price Index went down by 8.69 points and the S and P SL20 rose by 2.78 points. Turnover stood at Rs 4.7 billion with two crossings. Those crossings were in Vidul Lanka, where seven million shares crossed for Rs 42 million, its shares traded at Rs. 6 and National Development Bank 260,000 shares crossed for Rs 20 million, its shares traded at Rs. 77.

In the retail market, the five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Rs 1.28 billion (6.8 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 688 million (64.3 million shares traded), Waskaduwa Resort Rs. 237 million (57.4 million shares traded), Dipped Products Rs. 200 million (3.6 million shares traded) and Sierra Cables Rs 169 million (17.5 million shares traded). During the day 294 million share volumes changed hands in 39000 transactions.

During the day it was witnessed that foreign investor participation was less and the number of local investor participation had increased due to a lower interest regime. During the previous couple of days most of the counters showed some gains but yesterday the trend turned around due to profit- taking.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka rupee traded against the US dollar at Rs. 200.16, which was the controlled rate set by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The dollar rate has been controlled and the maximum selling price is Rs 202. The purpose of this move is to control the escalation of prices of essential goods.